Saturday, November 16, 2013

The weekend following what
occurred in the first part to this story, my husband and I were shopping for a
lawnmower.We had recently moved out of
our condo and into a house, and the idea of suddenly needing lawn equipment was
kind of a novelty.After carefully
considering our options, and knowing close to zero about all of them, we agreed
on one that looked cool.

While we were waiting in the
check-out line, a woman in front of us dropped to the floor and proceeded to
suffer a grand maul seizure.Instincts
took over, and I now knew to help her onto her side and cushion her head, and I even
managed to tell another woman in line to stop screaming because it was not
helping the situation. We did not know the victim’s health history,
nor were we able to find out from a friend or family member since she was
shopping alone, so I asked the screaming lady to make herself useful and call 911.

Another shopper noticed what
was going on and rushed over to help – he said that his son has epilepsy, so he knew what to do. This seizure
event concluded much more quickly than the last one I had witnessed, and as she
drifted off to sleep I had the gentleman take my place in the floor to cradle her head.I left them and ran outside to direct the
paramedics.

Regardless of your beliefs in
a higher power, you have to admit that the timing of these two events was
interesting.I feel like I was meant to
witness how a particular situation was properly handled so I would be able to
step in and help the next time I happened to be around when one occurred.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I work for a major university
medical center, so I have the benefit of nearly constantly being among
healthcare professionals – whether they be physicians, physician assistants,
nurses and nurse practitioners, medical assistants, etc.I am fairly confident that, should something
in my body go rogue [between the hours of 8-5, Monday thru Friday], the odds
are in my favor that someone within earshot will be available to help a gal out.

I was in a training class last
spring for a new Accounting/Payroll/HR program the university was about to
implement campus-wide.It was an
afternoon session, and about half-way through we were recessed for a ten minute
break.Fellow trainees were up for a
stretch, getting tea or a snack, or out in the hallway to check their
messages.I stayed at my desktop station
since I had everything I needed, and so did the girl who was sitting in the row
directly behind me.

As one does, I was facing
forward in my chair, checking my email, minding my business—then suddenly I
heard a series of loud noises coming from directly behind me.I turned around, and the girl sitting behind
me was yelling noises, not words, and then her arms flew up over her head and
she proceeded to fall to the floor and have a grand maul seizure.I had never witnessed a real-life seizure
situation, and thusly I had absolutely no idea what to do.Within two seconds, several other trainees
from my class dove to the floor to get the girl away from the desks and chairs
to keep her from injuring herself, and they gently held her on her side and
supported her head.Someone else called
911 and another person ran outside to direct the paramedics when they arrived.All of this happened within seconds.

It is the office workers,
y’all, not the physicians and nurses, who attend classes about university
accounting, payroll, and human resources.People with jobs similar to mine [zero patient contact] stepped in and
did their part to rectify the situation.I remember being incredibly impressed watching these people communicate
with each other and work in such a synchronized fashion.It made me so full of pride to work where I
do—and it reiterated that I get to work with amazing people.The one thing I recall contributing, was
picking up the girl’s cup of tea which got knocked over during the event.

From witnessing this situation
and how it was handled, and recognizing that it was handled successfully, I
gained new knowledge about steps to take in this particular type of
emergency.Does the seizing person have
anyone with them – a family member or friend?If so, ask them if the person has a history of seizures, is epileptic,
or currently takes medication for seizures.I learned that, in some instances as these, it may not be necessary to
have the seizing person transported via ambulance to a hospital.If the person is alone, it is always best to
call 911 for help.The person may
require immediate testing to determine the cause of their seizure, especially
if this is their very first event.The
girl from work told us that it was her first seizure when the paramedics
successfully woke her up.Before that
day, I didn’t even know that, at the conclusion of a grand maul seizure, the
person often settles into a deep sleep.

While I was quite shaken from
the unpleasant surprise of witnessing my first seizure event, I was grateful to
have seen it happen the way it did.People stepped in who were familiar with this type of situation, they
handled it, sought medical assistance, the paramedics arrived, and the girl was
taken care of.I knew that day, should I
ever encounter such an event again, I would feel much more confident about
offering to contribute to a person’s care until a medical professional could
take over -- even more so than picking up a
spilled cup of tea.